Navigation

Friday, 15 January 2016

Global Citizenship and Youth Participation in Europe - Report published by UCL Institute of Education, London

As part of the Schools for Future Youth Project, a
major report has been published in January 2016 on the importance and relevance
of a youth participatory approach to global citizenship education in Europe.

The report produced by Dr. Douglas Bourn, Director of
the Development Education Research Centre, Institute of Education, UCL in the
UK reviews current literature, policy and practice across Europe on how
educational institutions are addressing the engagement of young people in
global issues. It looks in depth at the evidence from the four partner
countries in the Schools for Future Youth Project, Cyprus, Italy, Poland and
the UK.

Global Citizenship has been recognised as an important
component of education by UNESCO through the Sustainable Development Goals
launched in 2015 and the recent Global Education Congress in Croatia.

A main theme of the report is the call for
policy-makers and civil society organisations to recognise the different ways
in which young people wish to engage in learning and taking action on global
issues.

Whilst there has been considerable activity across
Europe in encouraging youth engagement in democratic institutions, this report
suggests that insufficient attention has been given to the linkages young
people make between their outlook on the world, their personal and social
identity and the ways they use areas such as social networking to engage in
societies.

The report also suggests to teachers that they need to
address and respond to the interests of young people in issues such as refugees
and migration, climate change and global terrorism by equipping them with the
knowledge and skills to effectively engage in these debates.

DARE, Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe, is a Europe-wide network focusing on the twin fields of EDC (Education for Democratic Citizenship) and HRE (Human Rights Education). The network currently consists of 38 member organizations from 24 countries in Europe.